Former Bengals linebacker Nate Webster was convicted Wednesday unlawful sexual conduct* with the 15-year-old daughter of his former assistant coach for the Cincinnati team.

A jury in Cincinnati found Webster, 34, guilty on four counts after six hours of deliberation.

The prosecutor's office said he can now be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

The outcome was not the worst possible one, however, as the jury found him not guilty of three other charges: gross sexual imposition, sexual battery and a fifth count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Webster could have faced up to 36 1/2 years in prison if he had been convicted on all counts.

Prosecutors say Webster had sexual contact with the girl in 2009 when she was 15 and threatened to harm her if she told anyone.

Assistant prosecutor, Megan Shanahan, said: 'When somebody has a gun with them and tells them I will kill you, your family, your grandparents, your little sisters, absolutely she was afraid to say no.'

Webster admits having sex with the girl the next year, when she was 16, the legal age of consent in Ohio, but denies that the sexual relations began earlier than that.

Webster was taken into custody after the verdict.

Nathaniel Webster faces up to 36 years in prison
‘We obviously are disappointed with the verdict in some respects,’ Webster's attorney, Gregory Samms said after court.

He said they plan to file an appeal after sentencing, but said he could not comment on specific issues being considered for the appeal.

Mr Samms said that the girl lied when she said she was 15 at the time she and Webster began having sex.

Prosecutors said Webster told police that he had sex with the girl when she was 15 and played tapes of those interviews in court, but Mr Samms said Webster was mistaken about the dates in his earlier statements.
The former football player is due to be sentenced on June 6.

He turned down a proposed plea deal prior to the trial that would have required him to serve four years in prison, a prosecutor's spokesman said.
Webster played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2000-03 and for the Bengals in 2004-05. He finished his career with the Denver Broncos from 2006-08.